Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: PBKS & KKR are teams to watch out for in IPL 2022 – Neesham | Jimmy Neesham says Punjab and Kolkata will be tough to beat in IPL 2022

All-rounder Jimmy Neesham has pinpointed Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as two teams to watch out for in IPL 2022 apart from his own Rajasthan Royals. The addition of two new teams has evened out the playing field, but both these teams have undeniable strengths that can serve them well throughout the long tournament.

In an exclusive interview with CricBlog, Neesham was asked about which teams have caught his eye. PBKS and KKR, with varying strengths, were his picks.

“I think Punjab Kings have a really strong looking lineup,” said Neesham. “Kolkata as well is another one; they have high-quality spin through the middle like we do [Ashwin, Chahal] with Chakravarthy and Narine so I think I look at those two teams and think they have a very good chance of challenging at the backend of the competition.”

Momentum is crucial – Neesham

While PBKS and KKR have their strengths, Neesham also pointed out that the length of the tournament and sheer competitiveness means you have to be on your game throughout. Any team that can get on a roll will be well placed to make an impact at the business end of the IPL.

“It’s such a momentum game and it’s such a long tournament – any team can get on a roll and win two or three games in a row, and all of a sudden, they’re the favourites,” said the all-rounder.

“For us, it’s less about talking about the other favourite teams and more about preparing as best we can and looking to get through it ourselves.”

Neesham was also full of praise for Royals skipper Sanju Samson, who started IPL 2022 with a bang against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“The thing that strikes me about Sanju is that you can sort of see the quality of batsman when you play against them in games, and you get a feel for how they strike the ball. But, you don’t really understand until you can watch them train day after day and hitting balls. You really get a sense of how high-quality they are,” he said.

“Sanju played a couple of shots at training a couple of days ago and I looked across at Daryl Mitchell [New Zealand teammate] and we just sort of looked at each other and went ‘wow’, that’s a hell of a cricketer.”

You can catch CricBlog’s full interview with Jimmy Neesham here or watch below.